The exhibition “Agitations”

On the 28th of May, at Sreda Gallery, in the auditorium Cube.Moscow, the exhibition “Agitations” will open, where works of ten female artists from Russia and Belarus will be on display. This is a series of fine art works, which represents a current cross-section of reflections on the senior art medium. Arseniy Zhilyayev and Elena Sholokhova assumed the curatorial function. Robert Pasternak wrote a poetic commentary for the exhibition, which is presented there as a caption.

Info

Curators

Arseniy Zhilyayev – the leader of the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, artist. In his projects Arseniy addresses the heritage of Soviet museology, and also interpretation of museum in the philosophy of Russian Cosmism. His works have been exhibited at biennales in Gwangju, Liverpool, Lyon, Saloniki, and also at Ljubljana Triennale, Manifesta in Marseille, exhibitions in Pompidou Centre in Paris, de Appel Amsterdam, HKW, in Berlin etc. Arseniy is the editor of “Avant-garde Museology” (e-flux, V-a-c Press, University of Minnesota Press, 2015). He’s been awarded various Russian prizes in contemporary art. He’s held lectures and master-classes at MoMA (New-York), Brooklyn Museum, Tate Modern, Whitechapel (London), Princeton University (New Jersey), City University New York, MSU, RSUH (Moscow) etc.

Elena Sholokhova – artist, curator. Born in Moscow, where she also resides. She’s a student of the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”. In her works she addresses feminist art and the interpretation of Mikhail Vrubel’s heritage through the prism of female fine art of the New-York school. She has been an author for Aroundart.org. Participated in a self-organized community 22Gallery.

Artists

Olga Bakhilina – artist, born in Petrozavodsk. She’s a student at the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, Ivan Novikov’s workshop, Taisiya Korotkova’s workshop. She currently works as a curator of the collection of Karelian art in the Fine Art Museum of the Republic of Karelia. Her field of professional interest concerns usage of interdisciplinary approach in contemporary art. She creates both graphic and fine art pieces. She takes part in regional and federal exhibitions.

Lyudmila Bolshagina – artist, curator, born in Ivanovo, where she also resides. She’s a member of the International Association of Art AIAP UNESCO, and also the Russian Artist Union. She’s created series of graphic and fine art works. She’s held 7 personal exhibitions, and actively engages in various group projects. She’s a student of the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”. She’s participated in Arseniy Zhilyayev’s workshop since 2019, and was a member of curatorial workshops of Aleksey Maslyayev and Snezhana Krsteva in 2019-2020. Lyudmila explores the specificities of Russian expressionist art, experiments with topical art practices, with timing, rapid expressionist art in her personal project “26 minutes”. Lyudmila is concerned about the topics of Cosmism, immortality, microcosm and macrocosm, limitlessness, esoteric knowledge.

Sonya Bondareva – artist, architect. Born in Barnaul, resides in Saint-Petersburg. She studies both at SPSUACE, and at the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”. She’s inclined towards expressionism in her works, where she explores human subconscious processes, psycho-emotional experiences, social phenomena; she’s also interested in post-human theory. Her practice is built upon projective approach, thus creating exhibitions through combining 2D and 3D artworks.

Violetta Grishina – artist, born in Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine), resides in Samara. Violetta graduated from Samara’s  Petrov-Vodkin Art school №1 and Contemporary Art School QUADRO. She’s a student of the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”. She’s participated in art exhibitions in Moscow and Samara since 2019. Through her work she explores the boundaries of fine art, exiting picture’s frame, the attention shift from the canvas surface to its edges.

Irina Gulyakina – artist, born in Klintsy (Bryansk Oblast), resides in Moscow. In 2020 Irina graduated from the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”. She participated in the workshops of Yegor Koshelev, Hikolay Alekseyev, Yekaterina Kovalenko. She’s still a member of the workshops of Anastasia Potyomkina and Alina Gutkina. She’s an active participant of the self-organized 22Gallery, and also takes part in contemporary art exhibitions in Russia. Through her work she addresses Russian written thought of the beginning of the 20th century and modern critical theory. She explores the topics of food, flora and human body. Irina uses various artistic means, ranging from formal fine art to performative practices.

Vika Zhuravlyova – artist, born in Voronezh, where she also resides. She was formally educated at the department of architecture of Voronezh University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. In 2017-2018 she was a student of the program “School for Artists” of Voronezh Centre for Contemporary Art. She graduated from the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, Arseniy Zhilyayev’s workshop. Vika takes part in the self-organized 22Gallery – an independent art space for graduates of contemporary art programs. In her artistic practice, through using various media – digital graphics, photography, found objects, – she questions anthropocentric optics, raises the issue of identity mediated by the symbiosis of technology and politics.

Kristina Uvarova – artist, graphic designer, interface designer. Born in Saratov, now resides in Moscow. She graduated from Yuri Gagarin State Technical University of Saratov, the faculty of graphic design. She currently studies at the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, Arseniy Zhilyayev’s workshop. Kristina’s artistic and research interests include post-human ideas, feminist theory and art. She mainly uses the techniques of collaging and fine art. She was also a member of a local exhibition in “Uroven” in Saratov (2019).

Elena Shmakova – artist, born in Omsk, resides in Pereslavl-Zalessky. Holds an academic degree. A graduate of the Contemporary Art School “Svobodnye Masterskiye” (“Free workshops”). A graduate of the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, the workshops of Yegor Koshelev and Nikolay Alekseyev. Since October 2020 she’s also been a member of Arseniy Zhilyayev’s workshop in “Sreda Obucheniya”. A resident of the self-organized 22Gallery. She participates in individual and group exhibitions in Russia. Her works concern the heritage of the Moscow conceptualist school, she addresses the form of a museum collection, thematisation of agent reports, and also extra-terrestrial life research through mass culture.

Nata Yanchur – artist, born in Minsk, resides in Moscow. Since 2020 Nata has studied at the faculty of Contemporary Art of the higher school “Sreda Obucheniya”, the workshops of Ivan Gorshkov and Avdey Ter-Oganyan. Since 2020 she’s been a member of the art association “Krasniy Kruzhok” (“Red circle”), led by Ter-Oganyan. In her projects she uses both analogue and digital image, thus exploring the boundaries of modern fine art. She took part in the second Samara Appartment Triennale (Gallery “Viktoriya”), in the reporting exhibition of “Krasniy Kruzhok” (CIC “Fabrika”).